fun fact: apparently siege equipment is a relatively new thing for the dragon age universe. there was no need. earthshaking magic was just a lot easier.
Arrows, I guess. Honestly it always struck me as kind of moronic, but that's the in-game lore. The real answer is likely that the Devs just really like the idea of castles and didn't think things through. Tends to happen in bioware games nowadays.
Elves made it, so they probably assumed stupid shemlen didn't have enough magic to tear down their walls. The tevinter came and took the near-monopoly on powerful magic, and kept enough anti-magic defenses to target enemy mages. The andraste came, wrecked stuff, died, and her followers enslaved the mages (hypocrites). Kings still used them as siege weapons, but they needed to rent them from the chantry AFAIK. Then the Quanari came, blew stuff up, and people got the idea to throw large rocks from a mechanical device from them. Apparently people outside Thedas are much more technologically advanced, but don't come to Thedas because it's such a !@#$-hole. Blights, darkspawn, dragons...
Warlord_Pipsqueak It certainly keeps the rabble out. Considering Thedas wildlife, that alone could also justify walling your city/fort. And even if a mage coudl tear a wall down with ease, anyone who doesn't have one is !@#$ed. Piracy, raiders, these were some of the earliest threats to independent Mediterranean city states. Something similar could prompt their construction.
The "false floor" looks more like a grate floor so that if you dumped boiling oil down the murder hole it doesn't flood the place but actually falls through, it's self cleaning so you can keep dumping more and more down there.
You could also remove it completely and just have a large hole attackers would have to cross after breaching the drawbridge and portcullis and then have another portcullis to assault, also the diamond shaped holes in the merlons might be murder holes rather than arrow slits
jmjon9 yeah so basically the diamonds and grate can useful drainage and the grate could potentially be taken out before the battle instead of being some complicated trap door
Yes, perhaps it does not have a contraption, but under siege it can be removed. So in the case the attackers break the defenses, there is no floor to walk on.
16:02 it's primarily so you can jump from Leliana's rookery onto Sola's desk, trust me, i've done it enough times, and also, the castle is perfect for the sole reason of it having a wine cellar.
@@supervegito2277 fav scene is when Dorian is complaining about the selection of books available in the library and throws a book over his shoulder OVER THE LEDGE. It 100% hit Solas
Yes but as it is basically only ONE way for attackers to get close to the walls. over the bridge all the holes that are not directly over the bridge would be useless for pouring oil through And on a side note as far as i know Oil was not that commonly used for this as it was expensive. and you need large amounts. pouring 2 litre down a murder hole does not do much. Even one barrel of oil would not be much for castle defense. You would need to have several barrels at least. and that would be costly and a waste of oil that can be used to so much else Molten sand i think was often used as it is cheap and effective. even just boiling water would work fairly way if you don't have anything else. its not as effective as oil or sand but cheaper and still having gallons of boiling water poured over you is NOT very pleasant :)
TheCalcaholic I could be wrong. i am no expert on the subject but that is what i red somewhere And it would be cheap. would probably take more to melt sand than boil up oil or water but it should be very effective. i would not want to have molten sand poured down over my back :)
Something to take in mind is who built Skyhold - Elves to supposedly protect a holy site of some sort. From what we've seen from DA Elven architecture is that they prefer aesthetics to space efficiency due to there being no real serious threat that would have made it past the outer wall at the time of construction, which is likely why it is so well defended. Another thing is remember is that this isn't set in the middle ages just because they live in castles and use swords and engineers will have been forced to consider more offensive variable like a goddamn fireball or strike of lightning from mages in an attacking force as this is high fantasy and so designs will differ rather than Bioware's designers not understanding how a castle works. Also maybe another reason for the change in the castle's interior lack of space us is this is more like a temple fortress rather than a military stronghold and the towers having the strutting out tops is due to the ancient Elves wanting to intimidate and appear more imposing on the local aggressors - tribal avaar that would lack the technology for an effective siege.
The ancient Elves did not build Skyhold. The structure and design shows Fereldan (human) influences. The Elves only traveled to and held the grounds to a holy standard. After their fall, humans took up residence and flattened the peak to place a castle there. A good example of a fortress that the ancient Elves *did* build (likely with magic and not actual labor) is Suledin Keep. Edit: (*Spoilers Ahead*) The lore mentions that Tarasyl'an Te'las (Skyhold's original name) was once the site of rituals for Elves for the Humans leveled it. (*SPOILERS*) Based on what Solas tells you in Trespasser, there was a keep or stronghold that he and his followers used, and Skyhold was were he created the Veil.
The mountain terrain kinda makes it near impossible to march large armies at the castle anyways. Any defenses not near the entrance to the castle would kinda be a waste.
qwerty qwerty pretty much yeah the only way too the castle seems to be From a small narrow valley and cliffsides. its Basically impossible to take. No army can come close. let alone fit.
Well, you'd want a few, since flying enemies are a potential issue in the Dragon Age world. Dragons, mages and when Skyhold was built griffins hadn't yet died out.
I'd love to see Skyhold in its prime, holding off such an attack. I might exclude dragons however, since they seem to just be too excessive, and if an army somehow has a dragon in their arsenal, you might as well just surrender the castle immediately. That's like bringing a nuke to a machete fight. But yeah, I'd want to see how people in Dragon Age used to defend against mages and griffins. I imagine most castles had their fair share of mages to hopefully counteract highly destructive spells that could topple the castle defenses, and maybe they deployed special weaponry that would not only have the range to handle approaching griffins, but also the tracking ability, since I imagine griffins are very nimble and quick in the air.
6:40 the worst part about this is that horses would never even be able to get into the castle, because at no point in time would a horse want to risk dropping a hoof through one of the holes in the grating while walking, which would very likely break the leg or so.
Sephyrias Simple. lookout: the merchants have arrived! Gatehouses: any horses!? lookout: yes! Gatehouse: alright raise the gates and Bring out the planks!
+Brian Griffin the holes are big enough for a horse to risk breaking a leg by slipping, which means it will refuse as to a horses mind, broken leg/ankle=death. same thing with cows and other cattle, besides, with the murder hole above, having an inner floor of tared planks over that deadfall would be even more effective and eliminate the need for those ledges as burning pitch or coals dropped from above on attackers would ignite the floor and in short order weaken the planks to collapse under any eventual survivors and dispose of the bodies in the process.
that would be lack in forsight within the creation of the game...that grate wouldn't be there if it wasn't a death trap...the "little" things always get overlooked due to game release deadline...
@@PenheartKings Instead of a death trap it could simply be a removable floor the defenders can lift up to make it harder for attackers to get through the gate house as they need to build or lay down their own bridge under fire just to reach the second portcullas before they can think about breaking down the second portcullas.
I came here to ask this- I’d love to hear Shad’s thoughts on Caer Bronach, Griffon Wing Keep. Adamant would be hard because you only get to be there during a single battle
Telsion Imagine the worst forms of chemical warfare from ww1, ww2, and vietnam. Now imagine you can make something that defies physics because magic. Mustard gas, Agent orange, whatever nasty chemicals we have IRL have a far worse version in Thedas because magic.
I think the diamond shape on the battlements might be to pour boiling oil? Im not entirely sure but that was my first through, due to the downward slope of them, reminded me of a pipe.
I honestly discount accessability as reason for criticism. It's a video game after all and it's a design chioce to give player the abilty to go everywhere... or not. In "real life" the tower would all be accessable of course and there would be no doors who simply don't open, thats just a spot where level designers found nothing to put in or, as you mentioned, did not want to get the player turned around.
Also anachronisms like the oven: Dragon Age is medieval-ish, not in the actual Middle Ages. There's also plate armor and longswords everywhere, but no spears or polearms (I think) like there would be in the Middle Ages. So...yeah. I know where you are coming from, but come on, it's still fantasy.
+Shadiversity another problem with that false floor gatehouse is that horses and cattle just won't cross a grate like that for reasons of self preservation. A simple wooden floor would have served better and eliminated the need for those inside battlements and any kind of mechanical means to open the floor as dumping burning sulphur or tar through the murder hole would do that trick.
That's actually normal,, castles had backdoors. In Solitude the other door goes through a narrow tower, no way for attackers to get through such a small opening, too easy to defend. Just like with backdoors and such in actual castles.
Mouldy catSkin Well i think you're exaggerating, Solitude could be inspired by and english/Anglo-Saxon city, which is little yes but surely not only a castle. Although in Solitude there are two castles inside the cities: Castle Dour snd Blu Palace, so the city is not so little, it's the capital of Skyrim. For example Markarth is basically a castle. For sure the cities in Cyrodiil and High Rock are much bigger, though in those nations there are less villages. Skyrim has more little villages, like Rorikstead etc...
I know I’m pretty late to the show, but I thought I’d throw in my 2 gold pieces... My favorite thing in all of Skyhold, has to be the library in the bottom of the keep. Unfortunately never remodeled or used by a companion. I find the whole spot to just be fantastic.
In regards to the false floor in the gatehouse...what if it is not a trap door style. what if it is just a grated floor that doesn’t open up? Note the murder hole on top. If a raiding force charged the first gate and got into that anti chamber, how unpleasant would it be if the space below the grated floor was filled with oil? as an attacking force gets trapped in that anti chamber, a torch is dropped from the murder hole above and woosh.
I was thinking that It might just be flooring that can be removed during a siege. Then the attackers would have to construct some form of walkway or bridge to cross the gap and provide a suitable floor from which to break through the second portcullis. All the defenders would have to do, is remove the grate covering the murder hole above, and drop a sizeable boulder down onto the attacker's bridge, which would probably be enough to smash it into pieces.
@@drewforchic9083 the hole under the floor is way too deep for that to be useful. You'd need to fill it with the equivalent of a modern oil tanker to be usefil.
It is a good alternative theory. It would still scare all type of animals, though. Horses, cows and the like do not like to tread on grated surfaces. At all. In real life grates covering ditches are a popular way of creating a gate that only vehicles or humans can cross, but not animals.
@@bavarianpotato no, you just have to fill it a couple inches or so with oil, just let the fire and smoke choke out the horde of attackers trapped inside.
college of winterhold is still cool and an unique castle since its being defending by mages, not soldiers so the castle is made fit for mages which is cool
Well as far as I remember, M&B: Warband (I played a couple years ago, so I might be wrong) didn't really have any sort of castle design past having a wall and a spawn place. From what I remember, it didn't really include any sort of castle design. Pls correct me if I'm wrong though
You are wrong, I haven't played in a while but I distinctly remember one rhodoks castle that's a pita to assault because you have to walk on this small elevated piece of land while you are always flanked to the right by walls on which the AI tends to place crossbowmen. I think it's this one, Tevarin castle: vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/5/57/Tevarin_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160617121950 Here's another interesting one: th-cam.com/video/YPpeZVfA5Jw/w-d-xo.html And another one: vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/a/a9/Almerra_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161024204203
YES! I was so hoping for this after watching your other videos and being a fan of DAI. It's a very good and interesting analysis. Hoping you'll make a part two aswell cause there is so much more to talk about like the inquisition's soldiers camping outside skyhold (can be seen from the bridge), food supply, layout of the prison, the defences after breaking through the gatehouse etc. :) I really enjoyed this video, so thank you!
you talk about these like they are only for war but some of the castles are used as palaces or to display power and wealth and since founders of skyhold are long lost in hystory it might as well be center of power of lost kingdom soo it would make sence that not everything is designed-for-war-perfectli
Hello Shad - first of all: Greetings from Germany! I just wanted to drop by and leave a comment to tell you that your content about castles is so enjoyable to watch. Thank you for the knowledge you share in your videos about stuff like castle defences etc. - Have a good one :)
If we castle invaders need to climb a mountain side or fly a gorgoyle to get in, we might as well just climb or fly straight through a throne room window and stab Prince Lothric to death while Lorian can't see what's going on. And I wouldn't call that a siege. Heh.
Gotta say, this should be required watching if you're doing a Dragon Age fanfic and want to play off the "How can we improve Skyhold like it's been built upon and improved upon before?" angle well. +1 kudos to you sir, very educational.
Video games and movies need to hire people like you who have such a passion for this topic to design castles for them. This was a fantastic video and it's made even better by the enthusiasm in your voice. Well done.
I thought you missed out on the opportunity to point out the forward gatehouse. There is one at the beginning of the bridge, and while we cant access it, the fact that it is there I feel should give points.
there actually is something like a false floor in a castle here in Romania, it is called "cetatea Neamt" and it has this bridge with a trap on it, the trap is part of the bridge and it would open and let enemies fall down if they ever tried to cross the bridge
I believe that the grates are designed to be taken away rather than to act as a trap floor and that they are also there for drainage. I think that the diamonds are meant to allow defenders to drop oil and stones onto the enemy safely.
Andrew Coetzee Something else that I have noticed is that the place is actually been left in a state of disrepair for hundreds of years, so the fact that the towers are not being used as efficiently as possible might have to do with them using wood to make the floors, and the rooms that are not accessible might just be in extremely bad disrepair.
Beautiful video. So many details and many logical points (both the positive and negative). I especially loved all the historical notes and pet peeves you had. The only reason I can think about the unusable doors and inaccessible places is: it wasn't necessary TO get in there. When it came to rooms you can't enter, I'm just glad the put a door there, pointing to that there ARE rooms and thus more spaces, but to save on time, they didn't create those rooms. Attention to detail but not putting down too much time on construction and decorating. Love the balance there. I'm a bit sad you didn't note upon the double/two-tiered courtyard/baileys. That's a feature seldom seen but oh so interesting and useful in defensive design. I LOVED that part as soon as I saw it. I think the slit in the merlon is for liquid actually. There appears to be a grove cut into the base of that channel and it's angled downwards, meaning any (boiling) liquid poured through would go down, no matter how thick and sludgey it is. Normally, such defensive tactics require the soldier to step out from behind the defence of the merlon itself and into view of archers. I think that detail in the merlon's base is fantastic for this reason. Then again, if you want to get picky, can enemies get close enough (to Skyhold) for boiling liquid to be useable? Maybe not. Heheh. It's an interesting thought though.
Awesome analysis man. Would love to see you take a jab at some castles from the Witcher series, such as Kaer Morghen, Kaer Trolde, or Castle La Valette.
This was a very intersting video! I enjoyed watching the comparison of Skyhold to a realistic castle. I always wondered how they heat such large chambers in this castle. I mean, I know, magic and stuff, but it's such a waste of heat to have a fire the fireplace and windows open at the same time (like you can see in the Inquisitor's bedroom). This is the first time I see your channel and I love it! I'm subscribing, there's plenty of videos I need to watch! :D
My God, The amount of depth in your analysis is just bewildering! It's like you look at castles brick by brick, picking it apart and analyzing every rock and stone! Your videos are very informative and educational too. However, I must ask, I really Want to know, how you would go on building your own Castle? Or maybe if fans send you hypothetical locations, how you would go about building a castle in said hypothetical locations! I think that would be FUN and educational for sure! If you have the time that is. I understand if you dont, It's just a suggestion though. Anyways keep it up! I'm loving your videos!
That would be the castle I designed myself, you can see it in these videos: th-cam.com/video/b6mGXwSk5x4/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/ZBn7f3H-eqM/w-d-xo.html
I was hoping you'd do this one :) thanks! I'm not a big fan of the gameplay but I always enjoyed the design of structures in DA:O, and the freedom the player is given exploring them. Some amazing artists were involved in this.
Could you take a look at the witchers castle (Kaer Morhen, Witcher 1 and 3)? It has a gatehouse like a water-gate and I believe 3 inner yards with obstacles guiding you zick-zack so that you spend a good time in the open to be shot at from every direction... It had also two fortified positions before the castle, which were abandoned early. According to the lore the biggest shortcoming was its size so that maintenance (together with their habit of building too high) and number of guards were always too low. Thus the castle is almost a ruin before it has to stand the siege.
In two chapters in the fanfic I'm writing, we're going to Skyhold. I've been researching castles and Skyhold, trying to figure out how to make it more reasonable (still trying to figure out what to do with the apparently large stable, and figure out about a kitchen garden). So THANK YOU. This was incredibly helpful. I love your videos. This and the back scabbard video have secured you in my heart forever.
+Shadiversity I don't think the "arrow slits" mentioned around 9:40 are supposed be for arrows. They are right above the gate and look more like holes to pour boiling water or oil through to attack people below at the gate.
And then when I was getting close to my 30s I thought that no-one else was interested like me in medieval castles and their organization and structure. I started reading about castles from when I was 5, mostly with pictures and I know so much about them, but I had found no friends with the same interest before. Especially I focused on Italian ones, being Italian myself. It's nice to find a TH-cam channel that talks about this, and broads the scope to video games also, as I am an avid gamer as well. I had the same feelings from Skyhold when I fist saw it, and we agree on most points. Keep up the good work.
John D. Shad explains how it's difficult to even just wait them. Yeah the bridge is fucked but there's probably rope or whatever to create a makeshift bridge to send scouts for supplies and reinforcements out
This my objection too, one main function castles is the ability to control an area by being a place that holders can sally from. Take the bridge out entirely and the defenders are marooned until another force retakes the surrounding area and spends a great deal of effort and time rebuilding it. One attacking force can tie up 2 with that entrance design.
Bacon Fish I don't know if this thinking is correct, but I think of castles as staging areas for military campaigns. It seems pretty pointless to have a castle way up in the mountains. Like with the Eyrie in ASoIaF, in order to get into the Vale of Arryn you have to take a road that runs right past the Eyrie, so if you try to ignore the castle you're basically begging to be attacked from behind. Of course I could be way off base due to playing too many strategy video games.
I really love your videos! I've learned so much about castle design thanks to you. Are there any plans for future reviews of video game castles like Kear Morhen, Kaer Trolde (or even the city Novigrad itself) from The Witcher 3? Many of the issues you found in this review are addressed there. Thanks for your awesome videos!
Few things that bugged me about Skyhold: 1. The grate floor in the gate house must be fun for horses to ride over... 2. Although it has a layered design, there is no gate or even fortified door in the arch at 00:15, it is even possible to take a different set of stairs to get to the upper courtyard. There are also no crenellations on the battlements seperating the lower from the higher courtyard. 3. The access to the kitchens along the library also completely undermines any attempts at layered defenses; you have a wide, gently sloped stair going up to the door, perfect for bringing your battering ram along. 4. The side of the garden facing the inner courtyard is simply walled off; if there were battlements there as well, the upper courtyard would become significantly easier to defend, because as it stands now, as soon as an attacker has taken the upper courtyard, he has taken the castle.
6:39 maybe you can make that false floor differenly a little. i imagine a false floor thats built like 2 side ways drawbridges but hinges on the side, then you support them with wooden beams from the underside. then i would fasten chains with big rocks to the bottom of the beams, and when enemy is in the gate house, i would have someone push the rocks out with levers. rocks fall down, pull the beams with them. false floor opens.
Leo Alvarado Exactly. I haven't yet done all the DLC, so I hope that's somewhat better. The base game's story had a lot of potential, but it just turned out to be disappointing.
James Wadland Corypheus has a massive army of Red Templars and Venatori, dozens of corrupted Grey Wardens, and a dragon so deadly people thought it was a Archdemon... and instead chooses to play politics in Halamshiral. Leliana even jokes about this in Trespasser.
He had already laid siege to Haven, and I figured a large amount of his forces perished in the avalanche. Plus, I think it was personal for him at that point after the player confronted him in Haven, so I could perfectly see him being very irrational by that point.
I figured it out. The holes in the merlons are to drain water out when it rains. You can see that this happens at 11:00 by the texture around the holes.
Hi Shad, coming back to castle Hochosterwitz once more. First of all I'm very honored that you really took your time to look it up. But on the actual topic: the gatehouse and it's inner floor: Hochosterwitz actually has a gatehouse with a turnable bridge within the gatehouse. It's the 8th one. If the enemy came that far, the bridge would have been turned sideways and the enemy would - after breaking the first door - stare in a big hole on the side of the mountain. So maybe the grid within the gatehouse of Skyhold serves the same purpose. Maybe it simply would have been removed in case of a siege to add another obstacle. The besieging forces would have had to overcome a deep gulf in a narrow environment whilst being hammered from three sides simultaneously. True, it's uncommon and the environment has to be perfect, but there are examples of similar constructions. (Btw the H in Hochosterwitz is pronounced like in horse. And sorry for my poor English. As you might have guessed, I'm Austrian...)
The castle is in a very good position _tactically_. But the strategic value of putting a castle into a craggy mountain range is somewhat questionable. The point of fortifications is to protect something, or to block access. If the enemy can just ignore your castle, it's useless. The only thing you could protect up there is the nice view, and high mountains are plenty inaccessible already, even without castles on top. Moving armies through would be a logistical nightmare anyway (probably Hannibal's most under-appreciated feat - the Romans thought it to be impossible for an army to cross the Alps with good reason). It may kinda make sense as a base of operations, like Alamut for the Assassins, but even then you'd usually prefer to be located a bit more accessibly. Having to trek through miles of narrow mountain paths every time you want to visit the next city would get old rather quickly, I imagine.
Apparently it was stated above it was meant to protect one holy site, and with teleporters everywhere (terrible idea, CDC's worse nightmare) you could take a short walk through multiple cities in an hour. The inqusition uses it as a administrative center, and bypass the mountains with their communications. Essentially leliana found magic carrier pigeons in the same vein as Mabari, and magic communications are established later on. The guards are there 24/7, since the Inqusition focuses on mobile armies since they don't have enough men to hold land.
Venser's Prodigy Okay, then they _are_ in a similar situation as the Assassins. Credit to whoever wrote the story then. Well, except for the castles with teleporters thing - in that situation, D&D-style dungeons built as a killbox around the teleporter room start making a lot more sense (unless you put the teleporter a bit outside the castle).
If I had built that castle in that location.. there would be tunnels under the castle and through the surrounding mountains (or I would pick an existing cave network to build upon).. with a connection to pure flowing water and hidden escape/re-supply routes that come out somewhere discreet, but still defensible and easier to access than trekking through the mountains. Of course, in case of the tunnels being broken into and for some reason not defensible - there would be fail-safe mechanisms to block them off. (Yes... I realize carving tunnels for any real distance through solid rock is shitloads of work and would probably take longer to build than the castle itself.... hmmm... unless they start building the tunnels first, and use the material from there as building blocks for the actual castle. But anyway.. if you're gonna bother building an awesome castle in an awesome location... then for the love of god, put hidden tunnels under it!)
I don't know if anyone mentioned it but some of this diamond shaped holes over the gate house and bridge could be to pour any burning hot liquid in it. Although that would only make tiny streams. But to me they look like they are designed for this. And the higher ones could be rainwater gutters? (Btw how did castles handle massive rainfalls?) Dear lord I love your videos! I wanna design a castle on my own (for some reasons) and I grab as many informations, as I can. You wouldn't happen to know some good literature about castles with floorplans and what to put in a castle at all? (Like stalls for horses, cows and so on, toilet, kitchen, great hall, private rooms, sleeping and working.) The only thing I have is a book for childs and it does a pretty solid job but I want to learn more. (It's this one btw: www.amazon.de/gp/product/3831025002/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )
Shieldmate To my knowlege that castle depicted in the game is actually a 1:1 recreation as that particular castle (I forget the name) as it existed in 1403
Great video!I really liked it, and learned new things about castles :) Just one point - the circular area (where the library is), the fact that it's so open and big and seemingly irrational in it's design, from a realistic point of view - they at least try to explain that in-game. If you remember, when you first get to Skyhold, there is a note on the scaffolding near where Solas is, and it says that the builders (the ones repairing the castle for the inquisition) think this area is weirdly big, and have no idea what it's original purpose may be. There are similar "clues" that the structure held big, unknown things in the first conversation with Harrit (the blacksmith guy) in the under-croft, and in a note in the second, destroyed part of the prison.
I'm really liking these castle videos. You should do a video about the castle in Stormwind City of World of Warcraft. There seem to be castle-like aspects throughout the entirety of the city, such as the bridge and gate leading into the city. I haven't explored Stormwind too much personally, but I am curious about how true to form it actually is.
I wonder if those diamond shapes were supposed to be some odd form of machicolations. Also, any word on the dungeons area? I wonder how realistic that is, especially given it's kind of falling apart....when I saw this video I half expected there to be some discussion of the foundations, and how good/not good they are. Excellent video, Shad; I learn more and more about castles and the like each time I watch one of your videos. And I like learning. Especially about things that I like. Thanks for being an awesome TH-camr.
Another possibly serious issue I'd point out would be remote location. Castles were often built in strategic locations as to be able to project power and control over the surrounding territory and settlements. However, Skyhold seems extremely remote. Whilst certainly impressive, I question the hold's strategic value. Moving troops and resources to and from the castle could become difficult due to the mountains, and the distance also complicated its use as a headquarters due to the difficulty of communicating effectively with those around you. (because of its remote location, I can also imagine its management and maintenance costs would be skyhigh! No pun intended.)
This is a problem lots of fantasy castles have. A huge castle atop a huge snowy mountain looks awesome, but is pretty useless strategically and probably not that comfortable to live in.
If memory serves, it kinda guards the border between Orlais and Ferelden, and should one of those decide to invade the other, having a nigh-impenetrable fortress and a supply hub right on your enemy's doorstep would be beneficial. That said, the one who created it hardly inmgined any kind of border being there in a millenia.
Also from Witcher 1 and 2. After I watched some of Shad's videos, I payed extra attention to the Kaedweni camp's design and noted the gatehouse design (there's a perpendicular corridor between outer and inner doors).
Hi, loved this video! Don’t know if it’s been said before but around the 8:30 minute mark where you’re talking about inaccessible rooms, doors and rooms open up as you progress through the game, so I can understand your frustration if you’re only in the first or second level of Skyhold’s upgrades. Anyway the video was great and I loved hearing your analysis!
The little holes or tunnels located at the downward central position of the merlons, are somewhat impractival machiculations, which would still require the crenalations to be separated from the wall, otherwise the oil or water would only slide down, instead of raining upon the enemy. Though they don't seem to have much use to be located somewhere else than apart from the walls and towers near the bridge.
The grate could be well supported if it were divided into 3 or 4 parts front-back in the gatehouse, then a large log or beam could be pressed through the center, providing support. Then the beam could be drawn back, dropping the grates in sections as it was withdrawn. the main portion of the beam would be inside the wall, braced, with a small rest on the outside edge of the grate, and one or two supports long the middle.
fun fact: apparently siege equipment is a relatively new thing for the dragon age universe. there was no need. earthshaking magic was just a lot easier.
But if they had something that powerful to just destroy castle walls, why build walls?
Arrows, I guess. Honestly it always struck me as kind of moronic, but that's the in-game lore. The real answer is likely that the Devs just really like the idea of castles and didn't think things through. Tends to happen in bioware games nowadays.
Elves made it, so they probably assumed stupid shemlen didn't have enough magic to tear down their walls. The tevinter came and took the near-monopoly on powerful magic, and kept enough anti-magic defenses to target enemy mages. The andraste came, wrecked stuff, died, and her followers enslaved the mages (hypocrites). Kings still used them as siege weapons, but they needed to rent them from the chantry AFAIK. Then the Quanari came, blew stuff up, and people got the idea to throw large rocks from a mechanical device from them. Apparently people outside Thedas are much more technologically advanced, but don't come to Thedas because it's such a !@#$-hole. Blights, darkspawn, dragons...
Venser's Prodigy
Well, the elves fought with each-other and it doesn't explain why every human city and castle has walls. Tradition maybe?
Warlord_Pipsqueak
It certainly keeps the rabble out. Considering Thedas wildlife, that alone could also justify walling your city/fort. And even if a mage coudl tear a wall down with ease, anyone who doesn't have one is !@#$ed. Piracy, raiders, these were some of the earliest threats to independent Mediterranean city states. Something similar could prompt their construction.
The "false floor" looks more like a grate floor so that if you dumped boiling oil down the murder hole it doesn't flood the place but actually falls through, it's self cleaning so you can keep dumping more and more down there.
You could also remove it completely and just have a large hole attackers would have to cross after breaching the drawbridge and portcullis and then have another portcullis to assault, also the diamond shaped holes in the merlons might be murder holes rather than arrow slits
Nasmr also helps with the blood of foes. Dripping down the Grate. Same with ash if you dump oil and burn it lol
jmjon9 yeah so basically the diamonds and grate can useful drainage and the grate could potentially be taken out before the battle instead of being some complicated trap door
Yes, perhaps it does not have a contraption, but under siege it can be removed. So in the case the attackers break the defenses, there is no floor to walk on.
But why would you want the oil to quickly be removed? Why wouldn't you want the oil to flood the place to do maximum damage?
I love how nerdy and well-researched this is. It really scratches an itch I didn't even know I had.
16:02 it's primarily so you can jump from Leliana's rookery onto Sola's desk, trust me, i've done it enough times, and also, the castle is perfect for the sole reason of it having a wine cellar.
I wonder how many heart attacks I've been giving Egg Head during all these years of jumping from the rookery.
@@empty-voiid What about the Flamboyant Vint?
Dorian is on the middle floor and ought to have seen someone falling past him.
@@supervegito2277 I'm usually jumping off right in front of him. He should be used to it by now XD
@@supervegito2277 fav scene is when Dorian is complaining about the selection of books available in the library and throws a book over his shoulder OVER THE LEDGE. It 100% hit Solas
The "arrow slits" on the wall look more like they're supposed to be used to pour oil or something similar onto attackers.
Fun Fact, The Picture he showed to show correct use, actually had a similar hole :D
I thought the same thing.
Yes but as it is basically only ONE way for attackers to get close to the walls. over the bridge all the holes that are not directly over the bridge would be useless for pouring oil through
And on a side note as far as i know Oil was not that commonly used for this as it was expensive. and you need large amounts. pouring 2 litre down a murder hole does not do much.
Even one barrel of oil would not be much for castle defense. You would need to have several barrels at least. and that would be costly and a waste of oil that can be used to so much else
Molten sand i think was often used as it is cheap and effective. even just boiling water would work fairly way if you don't have anything else. its not as effective as oil or sand but cheaper and still having gallons of boiling water poured over you is NOT very pleasant :)
Interesting... I read that Oil, Tar and boiling water were used. Never heard of sand, though.
TheCalcaholic I could be wrong. i am no expert on the subject but that is what i red somewhere
And it would be cheap. would probably take more to melt sand than boil up oil or water but it should be very effective. i would not want to have molten sand poured down over my back :)
The combo of "the dawn will come" and the reveal of Skyhold was one of the most epic chain of cutscenes in video games
Something to take in mind is who built Skyhold - Elves to supposedly protect a holy site of some sort. From what we've seen from DA Elven architecture is that they prefer aesthetics to space efficiency due to there being no real serious threat that would have made it past the outer wall at the time of construction, which is likely why it is so well defended. Another thing is remember is that this isn't set in the middle ages just because they live in castles and use swords and engineers will have been forced to consider more offensive variable like a goddamn fireball or strike of lightning from mages in an attacking force as this is high fantasy and so designs will differ rather than Bioware's designers not understanding how a castle works. Also maybe another reason for the change in the castle's interior lack of space us is this is more like a temple fortress rather than a military stronghold and the towers having the strutting out tops is due to the ancient Elves wanting to intimidate and appear more imposing on the local aggressors - tribal avaar that would lack the technology for an effective siege.
Well Said Morgan.
Also, it was said that later occupants of the Skyhold, the humans, built on the original castle.
The ancient Elves did not build Skyhold. The structure and design shows Fereldan (human) influences. The Elves only traveled to and held the grounds to a holy standard. After their fall, humans took up residence and flattened the peak to place a castle there. A good example of a fortress that the ancient Elves *did* build (likely with magic and not actual labor) is Suledin Keep.
Edit: (*Spoilers Ahead*) The lore mentions that Tarasyl'an Te'las (Skyhold's original name) was once the site of rituals for Elves for the Humans leveled it. (*SPOILERS*) Based on what Solas tells you in Trespasser, there was a keep or stronghold that he and his followers used, and Skyhold was were he created the Veil.
@@AquaswanOfficial wow
Good take. Context matters
In Finland there is a castle called the castle of Turku that has that kind of trap on the floor in gate house.
The mountain terrain kinda makes it near impossible to march large armies at the castle anyways. Any defenses not near the entrance to the castle would kinda be a waste.
Pyroskies That also might explain that why are some of the walls so thin for no one is going to attack from that direction.
qwerty qwerty pretty much yeah the only way too the castle seems to be From a small narrow valley and cliffsides. its Basically impossible to take. No army can come close. let alone fit.
Well, you'd want a few, since flying enemies are a potential issue in the Dragon Age world. Dragons, mages and when Skyhold was built griffins hadn't yet died out.
I'd love to see Skyhold in its prime, holding off such an attack. I might exclude dragons however, since they seem to just be too excessive, and if an army somehow has a dragon in their arsenal, you might as well just surrender the castle immediately. That's like bringing a nuke to a machete fight.
But yeah, I'd want to see how people in Dragon Age used to defend against mages and griffins. I imagine most castles had their fair share of mages to hopefully counteract highly destructive spells that could topple the castle defenses, and maybe they deployed special weaponry that would not only have the range to handle approaching griffins, but also the tracking ability, since I imagine griffins are very nimble and quick in the air.
David Lopez I would imagine dome like roofs with tons of arrow slits for bows and ballistas.
6:40 the worst part about this is that horses would never even be able to get into the castle, because at no point in time would a horse want to risk dropping a hoof through one of the holes in the grating while walking, which would very likely break the leg or so.
Sephyrias
Simple.
lookout: the merchants have arrived!
Gatehouses: any horses!?
lookout: yes!
Gatehouse: alright raise the gates and Bring out the planks!
+Blue★
Or they could just have made the grates as planks instead.
those holes are pretty small...horses wouldn't have any issue crossing them.
That could also be a good thing though.
+Brian Griffin the holes are big enough for a horse to risk breaking a leg by slipping, which means it will refuse as to a horses mind, broken leg/ankle=death.
same thing with cows and other cattle, besides, with the murder hole above, having an inner floor of tared planks over that deadfall would be even more effective and eliminate the need for those ledges as burning pitch or coals dropped from above on attackers would ignite the floor and in short order weaken the planks to collapse under any eventual survivors and dispose of the bodies in the process.
It´s also pretty impressive that the outer wall works as some sort of climate barrier so it can be summer on the inside and winter outside
Magic
@@FlashBangBANGz Damn it, Merasmus!
To me that false floor doesn't really look openable, however just imagine lighting a fire under it and closing the gate behind attackers...
or maybe its for dropping the oil from the hole on the roof, so all the oil drains away?
that would be lack in forsight within the creation of the game...that grate wouldn't be there if it wasn't a death trap...the "little" things always get overlooked due to game release deadline...
ThaSoulz slowly boiling them alive... I love it!
@@PenheartKings
Instead of a death trap it could simply be a removable floor the defenders can lift up to make it harder for attackers to get through the gate house as they need to build or lay down their own bridge under fire just to reach the second portcullas before they can think about breaking down the second portcullas.
Kakarot this is the best and most logical theory regarding this.
Could you do other Dragon Age Castles? You explore Therinfall Redoubt, Suledin Fortress, Griffon Wing Keep.
Max Anthony I want to know about the keep in dragon age awakening
Or the blood
Teddy Couch RIP Adamantine
Or Adamant Fortress.
I came here to ask this- I’d love to hear Shad’s thoughts on Caer Bronach, Griffon Wing Keep. Adamant would be hard because you only get to be there during a single battle
9:43 to throw boiling oil down on the attackers maybe?
That's exactly what I thought. It clearly looks like it's meant to funnel oil to the bridge. Make it rain.
but its so small, the oil would run down the wall, and not flow on the attakers/bridge :/, BUT i did thought at that too first
I don't think they would use oil, as said above it would go to the wrong spot. Alchemical warfare on the other hand...
Venser's Prodigy whatcha mean with the alchemical part?
Telsion
Imagine the worst forms of chemical warfare from ww1, ww2, and vietnam. Now imagine you can make something that defies physics because magic. Mustard gas, Agent orange, whatever nasty chemicals we have IRL have a far worse version in Thedas because magic.
I think the diamond shape on the battlements might be to pour boiling oil? Im not entirely sure but that was my first through, due to the downward slope of them, reminded me of a pipe.
that's actually a good point. kudos. :)
Or drains, but what I want to know is what the game does when you press X next to them? Relieve yourself?
Diamond-shaped holes for pouring hot oil on attackers. That is what they look like to me.
I honestly discount accessability as reason for criticism. It's a video game after all and it's a design chioce to give player the abilty to go everywhere... or not. In "real life" the tower would all be accessable of course and there would be no doors who simply don't open, thats just a spot where level designers found nothing to put in or, as you mentioned, did not want to get the player turned around.
Also anachronisms like the oven: Dragon Age is medieval-ish, not in the actual Middle Ages. There's also plate armor and longswords everywhere, but no spears or polearms (I think) like there would be in the Middle Ages. So...yeah. I know where you are coming from, but come on, it's still fantasy.
Yeah I would put the ovens down to it's origins as an Elf castle, Solus might be even smarter then we realised he is.
If you played the game, you would know *wink*
He said he didn't fault them for it, he's just mentioning everything that doesn't make historical sense.
Now I want to play Dragon Age ^^
"The game designers clearly didn't want you to get lost in this castle" well they failed miserably ^^
This is amazing.
Thanks mate, I'm honoured you liked it ^_^
+Shadiversity another problem with that false floor gatehouse is that horses and cattle just won't cross a grate like that for reasons of self preservation. A simple wooden floor would have served better and eliminated the need for those inside battlements and any kind of mechanical means to open the floor as dumping burning sulphur or tar through the murder hole would do that trick.
Shadiversity how do you get your casual wear that blue color? mine are a boring pale white color.
With the Tresspaser DLC you get a wardrobe in your room, where you can change your casual wear.
These vidoes (Skyhold,Whiterun,Lord of the Rings, GOT) are unbelievable awesome. I hope many will follow :)
Solitude!!! (From skyrim) I mean it's essentially a castle, even though they call it a city
In his Whiterun video he mentioned he would cover other cities from Skyrim and Oblivion eventually
Solitude is a terrible castle once you discover the door that leads right into the midle of the city...there are actually 2 doors doing that.
Mod it.
That'll fix it...
I mean, it doesn't make it official, but y'know...
That's actually normal,, castles had backdoors. In Solitude the other door goes through a narrow tower, no way for attackers to get through such a small opening, too easy to defend. Just like with backdoors and such in actual castles.
Mouldy catSkin Well i think you're exaggerating, Solitude could be inspired by and english/Anglo-Saxon city, which is little yes but surely not only a castle. Although in Solitude there are two castles inside the cities: Castle Dour snd Blu Palace, so the city is not so little, it's the capital of Skyrim. For example Markarth is basically a castle. For sure the cities in Cyrodiil and High Rock are much bigger, though in those nations there are less villages. Skyrim has more little villages, like Rorikstead etc...
I know I’m pretty late to the show, but I thought I’d throw in my 2 gold pieces...
My favorite thing in all of Skyhold, has to be the library in the bottom of the keep. Unfortunately never remodeled or used by a companion. I find the whole spot to just be fantastic.
In regards to the false floor in the gatehouse...what if it is not a trap door style. what if it is just a grated floor that doesn’t open up? Note the murder hole on top. If a raiding force charged the first gate and got into that anti chamber, how unpleasant would it be if the space below the grated floor was filled with oil? as an attacking force gets trapped in that anti chamber, a torch is dropped from the murder hole above and woosh.
I was thinking that It might just be flooring that can be removed during a siege. Then the attackers would have to construct some form of walkway or bridge to cross the gap and provide a suitable floor from which to break through the second portcullis. All the defenders would have to do, is remove the grate covering the murder hole above, and drop a sizeable boulder down onto the attacker's bridge, which would probably be enough to smash it into pieces.
I'd always figured the false floor was a just drain for burning oil from the murderhole above, but the idea of igniting it afterwards is even better.
@@drewforchic9083 the hole under the floor is way too deep for that to be useful. You'd need to fill it with the equivalent of a modern oil tanker to be usefil.
It is a good alternative theory. It would still scare all type of animals, though. Horses, cows and the like do not like to tread on grated surfaces. At all. In real life grates covering ditches are a popular way of creating a gate that only vehicles or humans can cross, but not animals.
@@bavarianpotato no, you just have to fill it a couple inches or so with oil, just let the fire and smoke choke out the horde of attackers trapped inside.
i love how informative your videos are. If i ever plan on building my very own castle this sure will come in handy!
I simply love your castles video, mate. Keep em coming! They are the best.
College of Winterhold
Fort Dawnguard
Kaer Morhen
Would love to see any of these in a vid :D
College of Winterhold isn't really a castle, and most of Winterhold fell into the sea. I'd rather Solitude or Windhem.
Kaer Morheen has a very good layout.
college of winterhold is still cool and an unique castle since its being defending by mages, not soldiers so the castle is made fit for mages which is cool
Also kaer trolde
You would have to be an idiot to try to attack a mages college.
9:54 aren't those for dropping oil/rocks on the enemies below without exposing the archers?
a pseudo-meticulation*
Also, could you review some of the castles in Mount & Blade: Warband?
Well as far as I remember, M&B: Warband (I played a couple years ago, so I might be wrong) didn't really have any sort of castle design past having a wall and a spawn place. From what I remember, it didn't really include any sort of castle design.
Pls correct me if I'm wrong though
Peregrin Took
I meant the external design, you are pretty much right, there are few inside areas that can be acessed.
You are wrong, I haven't played in a while but I distinctly remember one rhodoks castle that's a pita to assault because you have to walk on this small elevated piece of land while you are always flanked to the right by walls on which the AI tends to place crossbowmen.
I think it's this one, Tevarin castle: vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/5/57/Tevarin_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160617121950
Here's another interesting one: th-cam.com/video/YPpeZVfA5Jw/w-d-xo.html
And another one: vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mountandblade/images/a/a9/Almerra_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161024204203
YES! I was so hoping for this after watching your other videos and being a fan of DAI. It's a very good and interesting analysis. Hoping you'll make a part two aswell cause there is so much more to talk about like the inquisition's soldiers camping outside skyhold (can be seen from the bridge), food supply, layout of the prison, the defences after breaking through the gatehouse etc. :) I really enjoyed this video, so thank you!
I absolutely love your castle analysis videos, they are awesome.
I kind of want to see him play medieval engineers to make his view of a perfect castle, then give us a tour of it.
if i was a game designer and i would make/design a castle, i would ask you to improve the weaknesses!!
your knowledge is just phenomenal ;)
Thanks heaps mate!
you talk about these like they are only for war but some of the castles are used as palaces or to display power and wealth and since founders of skyhold are long lost in hystory it might as well be center of power of lost kingdom soo it would make sence that not everything is designed-for-war-perfectli
And that's the reason why the original holders were defeated
JonatasMonte no they had normal castles at the borders where the enemy was
Your castle analysis vids are my favorite. More pls!
Hello Shad - first of all: Greetings from Germany! I just wanted to drop by and leave a comment to tell you that your content about castles is so enjoyable to watch. Thank you for the knowledge you share in your videos about stuff like castle defences etc. - Have a good one :)
Please do Lothrick Castle!
Its so epic! 😊
From Dark Souls 3
It is impossible to besiege because it is impossible to enter unless you can fly. Believe me, I tried.
End of review.
Heh.
Lautrec of Carim Greirat climed it tho. 🤔
Lautrec of Carim Plus dragons, gargoiles and giant grows might help. Sieges possibly work to.
If we castle invaders need to climb a mountain side or fly a gorgoyle to get in, we might as well just climb or fly straight through a throne room window and stab Prince Lothric to death while Lorian can't see what's going on. And I wouldn't call that a siege.
Heh.
Gotta say, this should be required watching if you're doing a Dragon Age fanfic and want to play off the "How can we improve Skyhold like it's been built upon and improved upon before?" angle well.
+1 kudos to you sir, very educational.
Video games and movies need to hire people like you who have such a passion for this topic to design castles for them. This was a fantastic video and it's made even better by the enthusiasm in your voice. Well done.
I thought you missed out on the opportunity to point out the forward gatehouse. There is one at the beginning of the bridge, and while we cant access it, the fact that it is there I feel should give points.
there actually is something like a false floor in a castle here in Romania, it is called "cetatea Neamt" and it has this bridge with a trap on it, the trap is part of the bridge and it would open and let enemies fall down if they ever tried to cross the bridge
I believe that the grates are designed to be taken away rather than to act as a trap floor and that they are also there for drainage. I think that the diamonds are meant to allow defenders to drop oil and stones onto the enemy safely.
Gordon Fields or bombs i mean it is dragon age world so a bomb could be rolled through there. either way sky hold is nearly imposbil to take by force.
Andrew Coetzee Something else that I have noticed is that the place is actually been left in a state of disrepair for hundreds of years, so the fact that the towers are not being used as efficiently as possible might have to do with them using wood to make the floors, and the rooms that are not accessible might just be in extremely bad disrepair.
More likely it was game play. Npthing in room 219 so dont make it spend that time else where
Andrew Coetzee I know, but it is a plausible explanation.
I thought the main impracticality of the grate flooring was that the holes were large enough for a person to get their feet caught in.
Love these videos. Please, continue reviewing every video games castle there is.
Beautiful video. So many details and many logical points (both the positive and negative). I especially loved all the historical notes and pet peeves you had.
The only reason I can think about the unusable doors and inaccessible places is: it wasn't necessary TO get in there. When it came to rooms you can't enter, I'm just glad the put a door there, pointing to that there ARE rooms and thus more spaces, but to save on time, they didn't create those rooms. Attention to detail but not putting down too much time on construction and decorating. Love the balance there.
I'm a bit sad you didn't note upon the double/two-tiered courtyard/baileys. That's a feature seldom seen but oh so interesting and useful in defensive design. I LOVED that part as soon as I saw it.
I think the slit in the merlon is for liquid actually. There appears to be a grove cut into the base of that channel and it's angled downwards, meaning any (boiling) liquid poured through would go down, no matter how thick and sludgey it is. Normally, such defensive tactics require the soldier to step out from behind the defence of the merlon itself and into view of archers. I think that detail in the merlon's base is fantastic for this reason. Then again, if you want to get picky, can enemies get close enough (to Skyhold) for boiling liquid to be useable? Maybe not. Heheh. It's an interesting thought though.
Will you show Witcher 3 cities at some point? :D
MRKapcer13 ya witcher 3 is probably the most realistic castles and cities
Compyouserve 1990 Yeah, and if Shad wants to focus on castles/fortresses then Kaer Morhen and Kaer Trolde
Was thinking about this today lol
Watching him rip apart Novigrad would be fun.
John D. why would he it's quite an realistic city
Awesome analysis man. Would love to see you take a jab at some castles from the Witcher series, such as Kaer Morghen, Kaer Trolde, or Castle La Valette.
This was a very intersting video! I enjoyed watching the comparison of Skyhold to a realistic castle. I always wondered how they heat such large chambers in this castle. I mean, I know, magic and stuff, but it's such a waste of heat to have a fire the fireplace and windows open at the same time (like you can see in the Inquisitor's bedroom).
This is the first time I see your channel and I love it! I'm subscribing, there's plenty of videos I need to watch! :D
My God, The amount of depth in your analysis is just bewildering! It's like you look at castles brick by brick, picking it apart and analyzing every rock and stone! Your videos are very informative and educational too. However, I must ask, I really Want to know, how you would go on building your own Castle? Or maybe if fans send you hypothetical locations, how you would go about building a castle in said hypothetical locations! I think that would be FUN and educational for sure! If you have the time that is. I understand if you dont, It's just a suggestion though. Anyways keep it up! I'm loving your videos!
Witcher 3 Castles/fortresses and cities please!
I bought the game especially to review the castles, so they're one the way ^_^
Love you Castle Reviews, I learn a lot from them. Now if it's not too much of a bother might I ask what is one of your favorite fictional castles?
That would be the castle I designed myself, you can see it in these videos:
th-cam.com/video/b6mGXwSk5x4/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/ZBn7f3H-eqM/w-d-xo.html
You do a very good job at breaking down whether these would work or not. Excellent job as always, Shad.
I was hoping you'd do this one :) thanks! I'm not a big fan of the gameplay but I always enjoyed the design of structures in DA:O, and the freedom the player is given exploring them. Some amazing artists were involved in this.
Could you take a look at the witchers castle (Kaer Morhen, Witcher 1 and 3)? It has a gatehouse like a water-gate and I believe 3 inner yards with obstacles guiding you zick-zack so that you spend a good time in the open to be shot at from every direction... It had also two fortified positions before the castle, which were abandoned early. According to the lore the biggest shortcoming was its size so that maintenance (together with their habit of building too high) and number of guards were always too low. Thus the castle is almost a ruin before it has to stand the siege.
Playing/looking at Skyrim and now this makes me want to play Dragon Age again (fuck)
In two chapters in the fanfic I'm writing, we're going to Skyhold. I've been researching castles and Skyhold, trying to figure out how to make it more reasonable (still trying to figure out what to do with the apparently large stable, and figure out about a kitchen garden). So THANK YOU. This was incredibly helpful. I love your videos. This and the back scabbard video have secured you in my heart forever.
So happy when I saw that you had done a video on Skyhold from DA:I.
+Shadiversity I don't think the "arrow slits" mentioned around 9:40 are supposed be for arrows. They are right above the gate and look more like holes to pour boiling water or oil through to attack people below at the gate.
*aren't?
Makes me want to play around in Medieval Engineers...
I love learning about castles from you
And then when I was getting close to my 30s I thought that no-one else was interested like me in medieval castles and their organization and structure. I started reading about castles from when I was 5, mostly with pictures and I know so much about them, but I had found no friends with the same interest before. Especially I focused on Italian ones, being Italian myself. It's nice to find a TH-cam channel that talks about this, and broads the scope to video games also, as I am an avid gamer as well. I had the same feelings from Skyhold when I fist saw it, and we agree on most points. Keep up the good work.
It would be hard to resupply this castle.
Like:
1) Undermine a section of the bridge.
2) Go home and let the defenders starve to death.
John D. Although it isn't shown in game, I suspect there is more than one way in and out
John D. Shad explains how it's difficult to even just wait them. Yeah the bridge is fucked but there's probably rope or whatever to create a makeshift bridge to send scouts for supplies and reinforcements out
Darkgeasss not big enough for supplies to feed the castle
This my objection too, one main function castles is the ability to control an area by being a place that holders can sally from. Take the bridge out entirely and the defenders are marooned until another force retakes the surrounding area and spends a great deal of effort and time rebuilding it. One attacking force can tie up 2 with that entrance design.
Bacon Fish I don't know if this thinking is correct, but I think of castles as staging areas for military campaigns. It seems pretty pointless to have a castle way up in the mountains. Like with the Eyrie in ASoIaF, in order to get into the Vale of Arryn you have to take a road that runs right past the Eyrie, so if you try to ignore the castle you're basically begging to be attacked from behind. Of course I could be way off base due to playing too many strategy video games.
Here we see the character design Shad likes. Oh, and he spends some time rambling about a castle or something.
Hey, if he's got to look at some character's arse for hours on end while he plays, it may as well be one he likes looking at. :-)
I really love your videos! I've learned so much about castle design thanks to you. Are there any plans for future reviews of video game castles like Kear Morhen, Kaer Trolde (or even the city Novigrad itself) from The Witcher 3? Many of the issues you found in this review are addressed there. Thanks for your awesome videos!
Awesome vid man! If you could do Kaer Morhen from The Witcher 3 that would be really cool!
Few things that bugged me about Skyhold:
1. The grate floor in the gate house must be fun for horses to ride over...
2. Although it has a layered design, there is no gate or even fortified door in the arch at 00:15, it is even possible to take a different set of stairs to get to the upper courtyard. There are also no crenellations on the battlements seperating the lower from the higher courtyard.
3. The access to the kitchens along the library also completely undermines any attempts at layered defenses; you have a wide, gently sloped stair going up to the door, perfect for bringing your battering ram along.
4. The side of the garden facing the inner courtyard is simply walled off; if there were battlements there as well, the upper courtyard would become significantly easier to defend, because as it stands now, as soon as an attacker has taken the upper courtyard, he has taken the castle.
6:39 maybe you can make that false floor differenly a little. i imagine a false floor thats built like 2 side ways drawbridges but hinges on the side, then you support them with wooden beams from the underside. then i would fasten chains with big rocks to the bottom of the beams, and when enemy is in the gate house, i would have someone push the rocks out with levers. rocks fall down, pull the beams with them. false floor opens.
It is good to see a man like you makes this work
Thank you 👍
ive been waiting for this video for so long
Hey shad, I think that an analysis of Kaer Morhen would be awesome.
If only we got an actual, on foot siege on Skyhold in the base game, am I right?
James Wadland Rather than that disappointing ending with that villain throwing a hissy fit at the wall.
Leo Alvarado Exactly. I haven't yet done all the DLC, so I hope that's somewhat better. The base game's story had a lot of potential, but it just turned out to be disappointing.
James Wadland Corypheus has a massive army of Red Templars and Venatori, dozens of corrupted Grey Wardens, and a dragon so deadly people thought it was a Archdemon... and instead chooses to play politics in Halamshiral. Leliana even jokes about this in Trespasser.
He had already laid siege to Haven, and I figured a large amount of his forces perished in the avalanche. Plus, I think it was personal for him at that point after the player confronted him in Haven, so I could perfectly see him being very irrational by that point.
I would LOVE to see the part two of this video in the future. More nitpicks!
I didn't hear you mention the second gate house but loved this video love the entire dragon age series.
I figured it out. The holes in the merlons are to drain water out when it rains. You can see that this happens at 11:00 by the texture around the holes.
I was always under the impression that they were meant to be used as runnels for hot oil and the like.
They're too high for that. The water would have to flow up a step to get into the drain.
I hope Kaer Morhen is on your "to do" list :)
Or maybe even Crow's Perch, seen that Kaer Morhen is a ruin and Crow's Perch is just in a bad state :p
Hi Shad, coming back to castle Hochosterwitz once more. First of all I'm very honored that you really took your time to look it up. But on the actual topic: the gatehouse and it's inner floor: Hochosterwitz actually has a gatehouse with a turnable bridge within the gatehouse. It's the 8th one. If the enemy came that far, the bridge would have been turned sideways and the enemy would - after breaking the first door - stare in a big hole on the side of the mountain.
So maybe the grid within the gatehouse of Skyhold serves the same purpose. Maybe it simply would have been removed in case of a siege to add another obstacle. The besieging forces would have had to overcome a deep gulf in a narrow environment whilst being hammered from three sides simultaneously.
True, it's uncommon and the environment has to be perfect, but there are examples of similar constructions.
(Btw the H in Hochosterwitz is pronounced like in horse. And sorry for my poor English. As you might have guessed, I'm Austrian...)
Great video as always 👍🏻👍🏻 could you do a Castle Fairfax/Bowerstone castle review from the Fable game series think would be an interesting one 👍🏻
The castle is in a very good position _tactically_. But the strategic value of putting a castle into a craggy mountain range is somewhat questionable. The point of fortifications is to protect something, or to block access. If the enemy can just ignore your castle, it's useless.
The only thing you could protect up there is the nice view, and high mountains are plenty inaccessible already, even without castles on top. Moving armies through would be a logistical nightmare anyway (probably Hannibal's most under-appreciated feat - the Romans thought it to be impossible for an army to cross the Alps with good reason).
It may kinda make sense as a base of operations, like Alamut for the Assassins, but even then you'd usually prefer to be located a bit more accessibly. Having to trek through miles of narrow mountain paths every time you want to visit the next city would get old rather quickly, I imagine.
It's an old elven castle, as to their motivations Solas never said.
Apparently it was stated above it was meant to protect one holy site, and with teleporters everywhere (terrible idea, CDC's worse nightmare) you could take a short walk through multiple cities in an hour. The inqusition uses it as a administrative center, and bypass the mountains with their communications. Essentially leliana found magic carrier pigeons in the same vein as Mabari, and magic communications are established later on. The guards are there 24/7, since the Inqusition focuses on mobile armies since they don't have enough men to hold land.
Venser's Prodigy Okay, then they _are_ in a similar situation as the Assassins. Credit to whoever wrote the story then.
Well, except for the castles with teleporters thing - in that situation, D&D-style dungeons built as a killbox around the teleporter room start making a lot more sense (unless you put the teleporter a bit outside the castle).
maybe in the tower on the other side of the bridge that would explain its function for good luck getting a road up there
If I had built that castle in that location.. there would be tunnels under the castle and through the surrounding mountains (or I would pick an existing cave network to build upon).. with a connection to pure flowing water and hidden escape/re-supply routes that come out somewhere discreet, but still defensible and easier to access than trekking through the mountains. Of course, in case of the tunnels being broken into and for some reason not defensible - there would be fail-safe mechanisms to block them off.
(Yes... I realize carving tunnels for any real distance through solid rock is shitloads of work and would probably take longer to build than the castle itself.... hmmm... unless they start building the tunnels first, and use the material from there as building blocks for the actual castle. But anyway.. if you're gonna bother building an awesome castle in an awesome location... then for the love of god, put hidden tunnels under it!)
I'd love to see you do Kaer Mohren from the Witcher 3
It's on the list ^_^
just picked up this game and got to skyhold and was hoping you would do a video on this!
You have a fantastic accent my friend, I'm stealing it! Oh and you won a subscription also, this is great.
I don't know if anyone mentioned it but some of this diamond shaped holes over the gate house and bridge could be to pour any burning hot liquid in it. Although that would only make tiny streams. But to me they look like they are designed for this. And the higher ones could be rainwater gutters? (Btw how did castles handle massive rainfalls?)
Dear lord I love your videos!
I wanna design a castle on my own (for some reasons) and I grab as many informations, as I can.
You wouldn't happen to know some good literature about castles with floorplans and what to put in a castle at all? (Like stalls for horses, cows and so on, toilet, kitchen, great hall, private rooms, sleeping and working.)
The only thing I have is a book for childs and it does a pretty solid job but I want to learn more.
(It's this one btw: www.amazon.de/gp/product/3831025002/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )
I look forward to see you rate a castle from Kingdom Come: Deliverance when it comes out.
Shieldmate To my knowlege that castle depicted in the game is actually a 1:1 recreation as that particular castle (I forget the name) as it existed in 1403
I've been keeping my eye on Kingdom Come for a while now ^_^
Great video!I really liked it, and learned new things about castles :)
Just one point - the circular area (where the library is), the fact that it's so open and big and seemingly irrational in it's design, from a realistic point of view - they at least try to explain that in-game. If you remember, when you first get to Skyhold, there is a note on the scaffolding near where Solas is, and it says that the builders (the ones repairing the castle for the inquisition) think this area is weirdly big, and have no idea what it's original purpose may be. There are similar "clues" that the structure held big, unknown things in the first conversation with Harrit (the blacksmith guy) in the under-croft, and in a note in the second, destroyed part of the prison.
I'm really liking these castle videos. You should do a video about the castle in Stormwind City of World of Warcraft. There seem to be castle-like aspects throughout the entirety of the city, such as the bridge and gate leading into the city. I haven't explored Stormwind too much personally, but I am curious about how true to form it actually is.
love these videos
I'm happy to please.
Can you do Windhelm's Defenses or better yet Solitude in Skyrim??
Shadiversity can you go into more details that you were showing and not showing?
can't wait to see Novigrad from Witcher 3, also Kaer Morhen but it's an old castle...
ilficherrimolori You can imagine how Kaer Morhen looked like before it became a ruin though
Bartosz N I know, otherwise I wouldn't suggest it
this channel is awesome. it just fits right in there, ala skallagrim for castles
thank you for covering this!
WOW! can you also look at castle redcliffe from Dragon Age Origins? and perhaps Orzimar would be interesting to figure out as well.
Orzammar isn't really a castle though, its just an underground city.
Good video man, but... Not everything humans do is functional, SO MUCH of what humans do is purely arbitrary or focused on aesthetics.
This is very true.
Such an educational video. More castle reviews please!
I wonder if those diamond shapes were supposed to be some odd form of machicolations.
Also, any word on the dungeons area? I wonder how realistic that is, especially given it's kind of falling apart....when I saw this video I half expected there to be some discussion of the foundations, and how good/not good they are.
Excellent video, Shad; I learn more and more about castles and the like each time I watch one of your videos. And I like learning. Especially about things that I like. Thanks for being an awesome TH-camr.
Another possibly serious issue I'd point out would be remote location.
Castles were often built in strategic locations as to be able to project power and control over the surrounding territory and settlements.
However, Skyhold seems extremely remote. Whilst certainly impressive, I question the hold's strategic value.
Moving troops and resources to and from the castle could become difficult due to the mountains, and the distance also complicated its use as a headquarters due to the difficulty of communicating effectively with those around you.
(because of its remote location, I can also imagine its management and maintenance costs would be skyhigh! No pun intended.)
This is a problem lots of fantasy castles have. A huge castle atop a huge snowy mountain looks awesome, but is pretty useless strategically and probably not that comfortable to live in.
If memory serves, it kinda guards the border between Orlais and Ferelden, and should one of those decide to invade the other, having a nigh-impenetrable fortress and a supply hub right on your enemy's doorstep would be beneficial.
That said, the one who created it hardly inmgined any kind of border being there in a millenia.
The arrow slits might be meant to pour oil in, to burn the attackers
I'm so glad that I now know that the width of the stairs in Skyhold is too big. Thanks, Shad.
These are so well done! Super interesting.
please review some castles and keeps from the witcher 3 their awesome plsplslsplskatanapls
and cities btw
Also from Witcher 1 and 2.
After I watched some of Shad's videos, I payed extra attention to the Kaedweni camp's design and noted the gatehouse design (there's a perpendicular corridor between outer and inner doors).
7:20 lol dragon age origins :P
Here is the usual like, comment, and full watch to increase engagement for you guys.
Hi, loved this video! Don’t know if it’s been said before but around the 8:30 minute mark where you’re talking about inaccessible rooms, doors and rooms open up as you progress through the game, so I can understand your frustration if you’re only in the first or second level of Skyhold’s upgrades. Anyway the video was great and I loved hearing your analysis!
9:50 I think these are supposed to let you dump hot oil on attackers
epic video, would recommend
Thanks mate!
The little holes or tunnels located at the downward central position of the merlons, are somewhat impractival machiculations, which would still require the crenalations to be separated from the wall, otherwise the oil or water would only slide down, instead of raining upon the enemy.
Though they don't seem to have much use to be located somewhere else than apart from the walls and towers near the bridge.
The grate could be well supported if it were divided into 3 or 4 parts front-back in the gatehouse, then a large log or beam could be pressed through the center, providing support. Then the beam could be drawn back, dropping the grates in sections as it was withdrawn. the main portion of the beam would be inside the wall, braced, with a small rest on the outside edge of the grate, and one or two supports long the middle.